Abstract
Numerals, that is, semantic expressions of numbers, enable us to have an exact representation of the amount of things. Visual processing of numerals plays an indispensable role in the recognition and interpretation of numbers. Here, we investigate how visual information from numerals is processed to achieve semantic understanding. We first found that partial occlusion of some digital numerals introduces bistable interpretations. Next, by using the visual adaptation method, we investigated the origin of this bistability in human participants. We showed that adaptation to digital and normal Arabic numerals, as well as homologous shapes, but not Chinese numerals, biases the interpretation of a partially occluded digital numeral. We suggest that this bistable interpretation is driven by intermediate shape processing stages of vision, that is, by features more complex than local visual orientations, but more basic than the abstract concepts of numerals.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 12 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-11 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Vision |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 9 |
Early online date | 17 Sept 2024 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024 The Authors
Funding
Supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number JP21H03789 and JP24K03240 (to H.T.).
Funders | Funder number |
---|---|
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science | JP21H03789, JP24K03240 |
Keywords
- adaptation
- bistable perception
- number
- numeral
- occlusion